Everything Can Change in a New York Minute | Formula E | New York, Race 1
Jean-Eric Vergne went into the New York City Formula E double-header knowing what he had to do. Finish ahead of Lucas di Grassi, and score points, and the title was his. The Frenchman must have known that things were never that simple, though.
The season he’d had, not scoring a win until Sanya rolled around, showed that title defences, let alone title challenges, are as complex as claiming the Iron Throne. If he’s not careful, Vergne might find that his coronation has the same sting in the tail as Game of Thrones viewers found at the end of their show.
After a race that featured so many incidents, last-ditch manoeuvres, and clashes that it was impossible to catalogue them all, DS Techeetah had a pair of badly damaged cars, and it was Sebastien Buemi celebrating a first win in Formula E since 2017. It was no more than Nissan e.dams deserved for a season of having unarguably the fastest car over a single lap, which seemed a magnet for incidents in race conditions.
With the Japanese/French team forced to retire their unique twin-MGU powertrain after this race, their approach had an element of “last night at the casino” to it. Buemi made up for team-mate Oliver Rowland being 18th on the grid by taking pole position by four tenths of a second. It meant that Nissan had had a car on pole position in half of the twelve races up to that point — extraordinary in a formula where there are so many qualifying variables.
Another reason for the Nissans’ strong qualifying performance is the fact that often they have been able to go out in Group Two, which is a preferable group, as Group One, featuring the championship leaders, scrubs the track clean, allowing still-fast runners following them to take advantage.
The race, from Buemi’s perspective, was not simple — he had been taken out of too many leads by unfortunate events to be overconfident — but it was a matter of controlling the pace and holding his lead against a variety of challengers. Alex Lynn, enjoying his best race for the vastly improved Jaguar Racing, was given licence with 25 minutes remaining to push harder and use energy in pursuit. It looked like Lynn might try a move, but for an MGU failure shortly after the call from the pit. The British driver, a mid-season substitute, will feel he has done enough to convince Jaguar to keep him for Season 6, in spite of retiring from the race.
With 16 minutes on the clock plus one lap, the Safety Car came out in order to safely clear away Lynn’s stationary car. It gave Vergne, 17th after an incident on the second lap, the ideal opportunity to close up on the midfield and plot a way into the points. Techeetah have had a consistently excellent race pace all season, and he and Andre Lotterer both made their way up from the back.
While Vergne was making his way up to 10th and the point he felt he needed, di Grassi was 7th after being let through by his own team-mate, Daniel Abt, working to team orders to help Audi get a drivers’ champion. In spite of the Brazilian complaining that Abt almost “spun” him, he was through, and would eventually move up to a net fifth thanks to Sam Bird, in front of him, holding a time penalty.
It was where he needed to be, but Vergne would take the title if he could stay in the points. It wasn’t to be, though. Trying to make sure of the total he needed, JEV tried an opportunistic pass on the Venturi of Felipe Massa on the penultimate lap. Massa, who had been a mobile chicane for various drivers through the day, shut the door on Vergne just as the championship leader also lost traction on the dust off-line.
While Massa, the consensus was, should have left room, Vergne will reflect that he didn’t need to take the risk. Even if the title had remained open until the last race, he would have had less to do if he’d scored a point or two, than what followed, with no points from the first race of the double-header. Lotterer’s car was also terminally damaged in the resulting pile-up.
Lynn’s loss was Mitch Evans’s gain, the Kiwi coming through to claim second and, like Buemi, move into clear contention for the title. It was also a good day for BMW i.Andretti, with Antonio Felix da Costa and Alexander Sims third and fourth.
If Vergne fails to score in the final race, and Evans wins, he will take the title. If the same situation happens with Buemi taking pole, fastest lap, and the win, he will take the title. For di Grassi, 22 points behind JEV with 108 points, if Vergne finishes tenth or lower and he wins, the title is his. While Vergne has a finger on the trophy, we have seen before how Formula E moves in mysterious ways.
Race 2 report coming up!
